Rivers published her first book, Having a Baby Can Be a Scream, in 1974 and went on to write 11 more books over the next four decades. Her two most recent titles, 2012’s I Hate Everyone…Starting With Me and this year’s Diary of Mad Diva, were both New York Times bestsellers.
In 1986, Rivers was given her own talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on the newly launched Fox network, which put her in direct competition with Carson. The Tonight Show host heard that Rivers had taken the job from someone other than the comedian herself and effectively ended their friendship; Rivers was also banned from The Tonight Show, returning only this year after new host Jimmy Fallon took over for Jay Leno. The Late Show would only last one year before Rivers was fired.
In 1987, Rivers’ husband of 22 years Edgar committed suicide after suffering from clinical depression. Rivers claimed that her husband, who also managed her, killed himself after experiencing guilt from Rivers’ Late Show firing. Like anything else, Rivers confronted the tragedy through humor, joking, “My husband’s killed himself, and according to the will, I can’t get the money unless I visit him every day. So I had him cremated and got the ashes sprinkled in Neiman Marcus.”